Destination Peking

HK$138.00

  • USD: US$17.64
  • CNY: CN¥126.88
  • GBP: £13.84
  • EUR: €16.20
  • AUD: AU$26.88

By Paul French

 

New York Times bestselling author Paul French (Midnight in Peking, City of Devils) returns to the Chinese capital to tell 18 true stories of fascinating people who visited the city in the first half of the 20th century.

From the ultra-wealthy Woolworths heiress Barbara Hutton and her husband the Prince Mdivani, to the poor “American girl” Mona Monteith who worked in the city as a prostitute; from socialite Wallis Simpson and novelist JP Marquand, who held court on the rooftop of the Grand Hôtel de Pékin, to Hollywood screenwriter Harry Hervey, who sought inspiration walking atop the Tartar Wall; from Edgar and Helen Foster Snow – Peking’s ‘It’ couple of 1935 – to Martha Sawyers, who did so much to aid China against Japan in World War II; Destination Peking brings a lost pre-communist era back to life.

Paul French resurrects a Peking that was filled with glitter as well as evil, but was never known for being dull.” The Economist

LOOK INSIDE THIS BOOK
Click the following links to read excerpts from the book.

Contents & Introduction

The Rooftop of the Grand Hôtel de Pékin: Wallis Spencer’s Peking World & Those Who Went Up on the Roof (1924)

OR

SKU: 9789887963967 Categories: , Tags: , , ,

Description

New York Times bestselling author Paul French (Midnight in Peking, City of Devils) returns to the Chinese capital to tell 18 true stories of fascinating people who visited the city in the first half of the 20th century. From the ultra-wealthy Woolworths heiress Barbara Hutton and her husband the Prince Mdivani, to the poor “American girl” Mona Monteith who worked in the city as a prostitute; from socialite Wallis Simpson and novelist JP Marquand, who held court on the rooftop of the Grand Hôtel de Pékin, to Hollywood screenwriter Harry Hervey, who sought inspiration walking atop the Tartar Wall; from Edgar and Helen Foster Snow – Peking’s ‘It’ couple of 1935 – to Martha Sawyers, who did so much to aid China against Japan in World War II; Destination Peking brings a lost pre-communist era back to life.

Paul French resurrects a Peking that was filled with glitter as well as evil, but was never known for being dull.” The Economist

Additional information

Weight 440 g
Dimensions 140 × 216 mm
Pages

376

Binding

Paperback

Illustrations

80+ black-and-white photos

About the author

Paul French was born in London, educated there and in Glasgow, and lived and worked in Shanghai for many years. His book Midnight in Peking was a New York Times bestseller, a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week, a Mystery Writers’ of America Edgar award winner for Best Fact Crime and a Crime Writers’ Association (UK) Dagger award for non-fiction. His book City of Devils: A Shanghai Noir has received much praise, with The Economist writing, ‘…in Mr French the city has its champion storyteller.’

Both Midnight in Peking and City of Devils are currently being developed for television. Stories from Destination Shanghai have been serialised on RTHK Radio 3.

His blog is at www.chinarhyming.com.